Not Gonna Write You a Love Song
by Rhianna-Aurora
Summary: Postgame. Disregards DoC. CidxYuffie. Five years after the game's end, Yuffie is living in Wutai, trying to uphold the old traditions. When an old friend literally crashes into her life again, she must choose between old traditions, or newfound freedom.
1. Crash Landing

_**A/N:** Been replaying FFVII, and Cid/Yuffie has kind of latched onto my brain and won't let go. I haven't been this excited about a fic in a good long while, so I hope you all like it too! Obviously, this is just the first chapter of many, so no worries! :)_

_Also, yes, this fic goes on like Dirge of Cerberus never happened. Sorry if that's a problem for some people. :\_

_As always, I own nothing, it all belongs to Square._

**Chapter One**_  
Crash Landing_

It was nearly sunset, but Yuffie Kisaragi was in no hurry to climb back down the mountain and resume her "normal life". It had been five years since they'd all beaten Sephiroth, and three years since she'd seen or talked to any of her old comrades. Oh, Tifa called occasionally, sure, but it was usually just to check up on her.

At least, that's how it always felt to Yuffie. And it was hard to talk to Tifa -- or to _anyone_, really. They wouldn't understand what her life had become now, anyway. Wutai had been restored to its former glory -- the goal Yuffie had worked so hard for. But Yuffie was quickly learning that sometimes the fantasy far outweighed the reality.

The place was full of tradition now, which wouldn't be a _bad_ thing, normally. Yuffie loved her culture and the Wutanese people. But she was their _princess_, and even though that fact never really had changed, now it carried more weight, and she was expected to be … well. Everything she _wasn't_. She wasn't good at being prim and proper and subservient to the men of the village. It grated, if she was being honest, to never be allowed to look a man in the face.

Godo kept saying things like, "Yuffie, I won't be around forever, and this will be yours someday", but Yuffie didn't know if she wanted it any more. It wasn't that she was afraid of the responsibility -- not really, anyway.

It was just so … permanent. So constricting, so binding. Kinda suffocating. And for the World's Greatest Ninja, that was almost a fate worse than death.

She sighed as she looked out over the rooftops of the village and all the way out to the ocean. Beyond that was the Western Continent -- Nibelheim and Rocket Town, Costa del Sol and Gongaga, and beyond _that _was another ocean and the Eastern Continent -- all places she didn't know if she'd get a chance to see again. Godo wasn't getting any younger.

She had resigned herself to climbing back down Da Chao and heading home for the night, when the unmistakable sound of an airship's engine reached her ears. Brow furrowing, she scanned the horizon for a sign of it, and felt her heart speed up when she saw the faint outline of the _Shera _heading toward the small strip of land southwest of the village. Moving faster than she thought possible on the steep and rocky terrain, she hurried back into the village and quickly saddled up her black chocobo. Her heart was pounding -- someone had come to Wutai! That -- couldn't be a good sign. Not at all.

It was quite dark by the time she reached the spot the airship had landed, but the outline of it was clear enough, and it was -- well, honestly, it looked like someone had crashed the thing. Half of it was on the beach, while the back half was practically in the ocean. There was a small fire on one of the wings and electrical sparks shooting out of … something. Yuffie had no idea about any of this technical nonsense. Who was piloting this thing? Cid would never let anyone handle his baby so carelessly.

Worry consumed her at that thought, and she spurred her chocobo on faster. She dismounted and fed the bird some greens from her bag -- hopefully it would be enough to keep him occupied while she investigated. She walked around the front of the airship and tried to look in the enormous window at the deck, but she couldn't see anyone in there. It was too dark. "Damn it, what the hell happened here?" she muttered. She hurried over to the side and tried to pull open the hatch, even though she knew it was futile effort -- that thing only opened from the inside, unless you had a key, which she most certainly did not.

She backed up and started scanning the ground around her, considering finding a rock to break a window or something -- for all she knew one -- or _all -- _of her old friends was stuck inside this heap, either busted up badly or dead. Luckily the hatch opened before she really had to implement any kind of drastic measures.

She walked forward to greet whoever it was and also lecture the shit out of them for giving her a heart attack, but bit her tongue when she saw Cid Highwind emerge, bleary-eyed and wobbly, looking like absolute _death_.

"Holy crap, Cid, is that you?" she cried out in shock, and he looked at her (well, he looked in her _direction_), blinking his eyes rapidly as if he was trying to focus. There was a deep gash above his forehead, and it looked like his face and arms were slightly bruised. His goggles were askew on his head.

"Shit, who turned out the goddamn lights?" he slurred out, stumbling forward a little bit, and it was then that the wave of _reek_ poured off of him and reached Yuffie's nose. "Shera, fuck, woman, turn on a goddamn lamp!"

She gagged a little bit, realizing that the way he smelled was the very _least _of the issues here. He was _completely _drunk, and beyond disoriented, and he looked hurt. And he'd been _flying_ the _Shera_ around? What the hell had happened? "Cid?" she said carefully, hoping not to invoke some sort of drunken wrath -- he was bad enough _sober_, she couldn't imagine what he'd do while blitzed outta his mind.

"Fuck yeah, it's Cid!" he said, almost proudly, and Yuffie just shook her head and rolled her eyes at him. "Who else'd it be? I swear, Shera sometimes you are dumber than rocks."

"Cid. Shera's not here," Yuffie said gently.

That gave the older man pause, and he wobbled a little bit as he tried to get a good look at her. He reached out and put his hand on her shoulder for balance. "Where the hell'd she go?"

"Uh, you tell me," Yuffie said.

He blinked rapidly then, and shook his head as if trying to clear it. "Where the hell am I?" he asked, and he sounded slightly more coherent. He squinted at her. "Is that the brat?"

Yuffie wrinkled her nose at the old nickname coming into play. "You got it, old man," she told him good-naturedly, putting her hands on her hips and looking at him sternly. "Now you wanna tell me why you crashed your airship in my ocean?"

"I didn't crash _shit_," he spat out before he lurched forward. Yuffie managed to catch him, heavy though he was, before he hit the ground.

She was thankful for all her training then, because he was _heavy_. Solid as a rock, too, she noticed, but that was neither here nor there. Right now, she had to figure out what the hell she was going to _do_ with him. She couldn't very well just leave him out here. He didn't even know where he was.

With a sigh, she half-carried, half-dragged him over to her chocobo and, with no little amount of effort, managed to get him slung across the bird's back. She walked ahead of the chocobo, leading it back to the village by the reins.

It took close to an hour, but they made it into town with no incidents. Cid woke up as Yuffie was trying to get him off the chocobo's back, and Yuffie was grateful that she wasn't going to have to drag him inside her house. Her gratefulness was short-lived, however, because he immediately started ranting.

"How the fuck did I get to Wutai?" he shouted as he looked around at his surroundings.

"Shhh!" Yuffie shushed him, putting her hand over his mouth. She ignored his glare. "If my father hears you, you're going to be a dead man." She motioned her head in the direction of her modest-sized house. "In here," she told him. "Don't mind the cats," she said as they entered. Her many house pets greeted them by scattering and running off to every corner of the house. She laughed a little.

She started to wave her hands in the direction of the couch, but thought better of it. She led him up the stairs to her bedroom. "You can crash in my bed tonight," she told him with a sigh. "I'll take the couch. You look like you could use a good night's sleep."

He flopped down on the bed without a word, his boots leaving mud all over her nice white sheets. "Ew, holy gawd, Cid, that's gross, even if you are drunk!" she cried. Wrinkling her nose in distaste, she quickly unlaced the offending boots and put them on the floor. Then she tried in vain to wipe some of the mud off the sheets before giving up and heading back downstairs.

She went into the bathroom and gathered up some gauze and rubbing alcohol, and then went back to attend to the cut on his forehead. He was passed out, so cleaning it was easy, and she was relieved to see that the wound wasn't severe -- it didn't even need stitches. She finished cleaning it and applying gauze to it, and then she grabbed one of her materia bracelets from her nightstand. She cast a heavy-duty cure spell on him, and hoped for the best. He wasn't going to feel _good_ in the morning, but he'd be better than he _should_ be, all things considered.

She sat down on the couch with a heavy sigh, and considered her options. She supposed that she could call Tifa or Vincent, and see if they knew why Cid was acting so strange. But then … he might not _want_ to see them. Maybe one of them was the reason for his behavior. She lay back against the cushions on her couch, and the exertion of her evening started to take its toll on her, and before long, her eyes had closed, before she had made a decision about what to do about Cid.

She woke up the next morning to the sound of shouting. "What in the blue fuck? Where did all these goddamn cats come from?" She jumped off the couch immediately, years of training putting her into an immediate defensive stance. A few seconds later, thundering footsteps were coming down the stairs. She straightened herself when she realized it was just Cid -- and he was confused as all hell.

"Morning!" she said cheerfully when he reached the bottom of the stairs.

He looked at her, and she knew that he was really seeing her this time, not like last night. "Shit," he muttered, reaching up to his goggles to where he kept his pack of cigarettes.

"I'm so happy to see you again, too," Yuffie went on, pointedly ignoring his reaction. "And also, you cannot smoke that in here." He had just put the cigarette in his mouth and was reaching for his lighter.

"The hell?" he snapped, but he put the cigarette away. He rubbed his hands over his face rapidly. "Where the fuck is _here_, kid?"

Yuffie just smiled. "You're in my house!" she said brightly.

"What the fuck?" he muttered, more to himself than to her. "How'd I get here, anyhow?"

"Well, that's where it gets interesting," she said, and she headed back toward her kitchen. "You want some coffee?"

"Please," he said, following her like a puppy, and she laughed a little. "Interesting how?" he asked as he watched her move around her little kitchen, getting the items she needed to make the coffee.

"Last night, I was up on Da Chao --"

"You were up on _who _now?" he asked, and she stuck her tongue out at him.

"Ew. The _mountain_, you old coot," she retorted. "Do you want to hear this or not? Because I'm perfectly content to make you sit and wonder. I mean, you are in _my _town now."

"Shit," he cursed again. "All right, continue."

"Anyway. Like I was _saying_. I was up on Da -- _the mountain_ -- and I heard an airship coming. That's not normal for around here, so I started looking for it, and that's when I saw the _Shera_ heading this way. So I got on my bird and headed out to the landing area, but by the time I got there, you had already landed. And I'll use that term loosely." She looked at him pointedly as she pushed the button to start the coffeepot.

"I wrecked her? Sonofabitch!" he cursed.

"It's not so bad," Yuffie said. "I mean, it was dark, but I don't think that you did too much damage to her. I was more concerned that whoever was in the ship was _dead_. I mean, I knew you'd never let anyone be so reckless with her. Kinda surprised me when I saw you stumble outta there."

"I was in pretty bad shape then?" he asked, scratching the back of his neck sheepishly.

"Bad as I've ever seen you," she told him honestly. "So you want to tell me what happened?"

"Nope."

"Then do you want me to call Tifa or Vincent or Reeve or someone? I'm sure they could get on a boat or something."

"Fuck no, I don't want you calling those assholes."

Yuffie backed up just a step. "Ooookay, then," she said slowly. "Well, _Cid_, what _can_ I do for you? I mean, never mind the fact that I carried you back here last night -- and you are _heavy,_ let me tell you what. And no, really, thanks aren't necessary, I actually _live_ for dragging drunk old farts back to my house late at night. Especially when they start screaming out obscenities and waking up the whole village."

He ignored her outburst. "I need a cup of that fucking coffee," he pointed at the machine, "and I need to see my goddamn airship," he said bluntly.

"Whatever you say, Captain," Yuffie said sarcastically, snapping off a mock-salute. She got a mug down out of her cabinet and slammed it on the table in front of him. "Knock yourself out." She turned to head out of the kitchen to go and get herself ready for the day, which was sure to be just _lovely_.

"Wait just a damn minute!" Cid barked. "You ain't gonna pour me a cup?"

Yuffie whirled on him, hands on her hips. She remembered the time they'd visited Cid's home in Rocket Town, how dutifully his girlfriend/wife/whatever she was had done whatever he'd asked her to do. That _so_ wasn't going to fly with Yuffie, though. "Do I _look_ like your maid? No, I don't think so. You want coffee, you can get it yourself. You have arms!"

She stomped out of the kitchen then, leaving a dumbfounded Cid sitting at her table. She showered quickly and dressed even faster, hoping that Cid would still be sitting in her kitchen. Because the alternative was that he was wandering around Wutai, making an ass of himself, and that just was … not good.

She walked back to where she had left him and breathed a sigh of relief to see him sitting there, drinking his coffee. He had a look of remorse on his face, but that disappeared and was replaced by one of disdain when she entered the room.

"Is there a problem?" she asked as she sat down to lace up her knee-high boots.

"Thought maybe you'd have outgrown wearing those damn skimpy shorts by now, is all," he muttered darkly.

Yuffie looked at him in utter disbelief. "Oh, I'm sorry, _Dad_," she snarked. "I didn't realize it was any of your business what I wore." He didn't say anything further, just swallowed the last drink of coffee out of his mug and held it out across the table to her. She just looked at it. "The sink's behind you," she told him, standing up and straightening her clothes.

He cursed under his breath, but he turned and put the cup in the sink, and he even rinsed it out beforehand. She smiled to herself in amusement. "Thank you," she said pointedly. He glared at her, and she giggled.

"Smart-ass," he said. "Take me to my airship, now."

"Well, since you asked so nicely," Yuffie retorted dryly.

"Dammit, kid, you're going to give me a fucking migraine."

"Nah, the hangover's going to take care of that," she said, keeping her tone bright. "You oughta consider yourself _lucky_ that I found you. You know how many men out there would kill for the chance to spend the night in the home of _the_ Yuffie Kisaragi?"

Cid snorted. "I just bet," he said sarcastically, but Yuffie noticed that his eyes raked over her body appraisingly, and she might've been imagining it, but she swore his eyebrow cocked upward slightly in an appreciative manner. She tugged the hem of her shirt down just a little, suddenly feeling slightly uncomfortable -- and slightly _excited_. But that was all just a little bit too weird for her. It was probably just because she wasn't used to male attention, was all.

"Let's go," she said quickly, stepping out of her house and checking that there were no villagers milling about. The last thing she needed was word getting back to her father that a tall, scruffy-looking older man was seen exiting her house in the wee hours of the morning. "D'you wanna take the bird?" she asked, motioning in the direction of the chocobo stables.

"Fuck no, I hate those damn chickens," he retorted. He had already pulled a cigarette out of his goggles and was lighting it up. "We're outside," he said when he noticed her disapproving look.

"So we are," Yuffie said. "All right, well, then, we'll hike it." She waved the smoke from his cigarette away from her face with her hand. "Hopefully your lungs can take it."

"Fuck off, brat," he snapped.

"Charming as ever," Yuffie replied as they headed south out of the village. "How I've missed the gentle, soothing sound of your voice, Cid." She sighed affectedly, as if she just found him _soo_ irresistible.

"Yuffie, shut the hell up," Cid said impatiently.

"Fine, whatever, it's your loss, old man," she said, shrugging off his surly tone easily. "I mean, you get the chance to spend the whole morning with the White Rose of Wutai, which, I'll have you know, is an opportunity people have _killed _for …"

Cid's hand clamping over her mouth cut her off in mid-sentence. "I understand that you fucking love the sound of your goddamn voice, but right now, I have the mother of all headaches, and you just need to _shut the fuck up_."

Yuffie bit his hand.

"_Sonofabitch_!" he yelped, yanking his hand away from her face and shaking it. He looked at her in absolute disbelief.

"Don't ever do that again," she said, ice in her voice now. "You haven't shown me one _ounce_ of appreciation after all I did for you last night. I haven't pushed or prodded or asked you _anything_ really about why the hell you showed up here so unexpectedly, so if I were you, old man, I'd just back _off_. I am not your meek and mild Shera, so don't start thinking that the shit you get away with at home is going to fly with me." She pushed him back slightly, as if to prove her point.

To her surprise, he didn't fire back a foul-mouthed retort. He just stumbled backwards a little bit until he was sitting on a large boulder. "Shit," he muttered, and Yuffie immediately felt bad for going off on him like that. Something was _seriously_ wrong with him, she was sure of that now.

"Hey, Cid?" she asked, kneeling down in front of him. "What happened to you?"

He was lighting up another cigarette, but Yuffie didn't bother to make a comment about it this time. She just looked at him earnestly.

"Shit, kid, nothing happened to _me_," he said, and she swore she heard his voice crack just a little bit. "It's just … fucking Shera. She's fucking dead."

Yuffie's mouth dropped open in shock. "Oh, my gawd, Cid, why didn't you say something before? Oh, my _gawd_, when did this happen?"

"A month -- no, three months -- three months ago," Cid said. His hands were shaking, and Yuffie held hers out to steady them. "I think, shit, I don't _know_. I've been drunk ever since. What is it now?"

"It's, uh, April. April 18th," Yuffie told him quietly.

"April," he said quietly. "Then it's been … five months. Five fucking months."

"Five months? Cid, what have you been doing with yourself?" Yuffie asked, and she could feel the emotion welling up inside of her. Regardless of what she thought about this man and his personality and habits, he'd always been a _friend_, and this friend was hurting, seriously hurting right now.

"I fucking told you already, kid, I been drunk the whole damn time. I must've gotten tired of staying in that goddamn house … must've decided to take the _Shera _out for a spin. Brilliant fucking idea."

Several horrifying scenarios flashed through Yuffie's mind then, and she was suddenly _grateful_ that he'd crashed down on the Wutanese beach. If he'd gotten any further than Wutai, he could have crashed into the ocean, and then he'd have been lost at sea, and no one would have known at all. She blinked away tears at the thought. "Oh, Cid, you are a stupid, stupid man," she breathed then. "Gawd, don't you know that you could've just _died_ out there, and no one would have ever known it?" She impulsively threw her arms around him.

She felt his hesitation, but soon enough, he had his arms around her, and she could feel his shoulders shaking with silent sobs. She murmured soothing nonsense to him, the way that she remembered her mother doing long, long ago, before she'd died.

It was so strange -- she was such a small person, and yet, she was holding all the weight of this man without any trouble at all. She could feel him crumbling in her arms, and she wondered just how broken he really was. Was this a crack that was going to break him, all the way down to his core? Or could he be fixed, someday, maybe? She didn't really know why she _cared_ so much, aside from the fact that he was a friend. And she hated to see friends in pain.

It seemed like they sat there on that rock just outside of Wutai proper for hours, but it was really only minutes. Cid finally stopped crying, and Yuffie finally stopped feeling like she was _going_ to cry. "I swear, brat, if you tell fucking anyone about this …"

Yuffie just shook her head at him. "I wouldn't," she said honestly. "I might be a lot of un-good things, but dammit, I know when to keep my mouth shut. I'm not _Reeve_ for crying out loud."

That earned her a small smile from Cid, and she managed to smile back. It was a strange moment, Yuffie thought. Something had changed here -- simply because he'd let her see him at his very lowest. It felt almost like -- trust. Like the kind of trust she'd never had with _anybody _ever.

"Let's continue, shall we?" she said quickly. She felt like she was going to come apart at the seams if they just kept sitting here.

It took them close to an hour to reach the _Shera_, and she stood back and let him take stock of the damage. By the way he was cussing and ranting, she could tell that the prognosis was not good.

"The electrical system's completely fucked," he said as he came back around, shaking his head. "It's gonna have to be completely replaced. Fuck me if I know how that's gonna happen in this backwoods shithole."

"Hey," Yuffie said defensively. "This 'backwoods shithole' is my _home. _Look. I'm sure if we just call Tifa, Cloud or Barret can get hold of whatever you need in Midgar, and get it shipped over."

Cid seemed to consider this. "How long you think it'd take 'em?" he asked.

"Oh, it'd be at _least_ a week," Yuffie said. "Wutai's really remote, if you hadn't noticed."

"So what am I supposed to do for a week?"

Yuffie shrugged. "Stay here?" she suggested.

Cid snorted. "With you and your fucking cats?"

"I mean … you could stay at the inn, obviously," Yuffie said, waving her hand dismissively. "I didn't mean you had to _move in_ with me or anything, gawd, Cid."

"Shit," Cid muttered, reaching for another cigarette.

"Well, what else are you going to do? Swim back to Rocket Town?"

"Always the possibility of drowning if I do that," Cid mused, and Yuffie really didn't think he was kidding.

"Cid," she said, as she felt worry creeping up on her. There was another reason for suggesting he stay in Wutai -- she could keep an eye on him better that way. Cid Highwind's very own, personal suicide watch. "Let's go back into town and call Tifa, okay? We can figure out what to do next after that."

"Guess there ain't no other choice right now," Cid said darkly, marching off in the direction of the village, not even bothering to look back and see if she was following him or not.

"That's the spirit," Yuffie muttered sarcastically as she trailed him. She wondered just briefly what she had gotten herself into _now_.


	2. A Little Mental Clarity

_**A/N: **Well, here's the next chapter. This time we get Cid's POV, which was a lot of fun to write, actually. Not quite as long as the first chapter, but it's getting the ball rolling for the rest of the fic. I hope you enjoy it. :)_

_Again, I don't own any of this, and I'm not making any money off of it.  
_

_**Chapter Two  
**_**A Little Mental Clarity**

Cid noticed Yuffie grimace as soon as they re-entered the village a short while later. Cid could hear the people around them whispering excitedly in what he guessed was Wutanese, because he didn't understand a damn word of it.

"The fuck's everyone staring at?" Cid muttered to the girl as she led him to the inn.

"Oh, it's me," Yuffie said breezily. "I _am_ their princess after all."

"No shit," Cid said, almost impressed.

Yuffie got an offended look on her face. "You mean, you didn't know? Daughter of the great Godo, right? C'mon, you were here five years ago." She nudged him with her elbow playfully, and he tried to ignore the thought that that touch was the first human contact he could remember having since Shera had died.

"Oh, right, right," he said, trying to keep his tone light, massaging his temples as they walked. "Guess I just forgot."

"I'll get you something for that headache as soon as we get you settled," she told him, patting his shoulder lightly.

Again with the touching. The brat sure was touchy-feely -- had she always been so? Truth be told, he didn't remember much about her, except that she'd been damn annoying, and she'd stolen all their fucking materia at one point.

Looking at her now, he was having a hard time reconciling this girl with the annoying kid from five years ago. She was taller, for one -- just a little. And not as scrawny as he seemed to recall. Actually, she was kinda -- pretty.

Fuck it, that had to be the grief talking. Or maybe the fact that even _before _Shera had gotten sick, they hadn't exactly been the most -- physical -- of couples. A man could only go so long without before even the fucking _linoleum _started to look goddamn appealing to him.

Damn it, he knew he shouldn't be thinking about this shit right now, but his mind seemed to wander wherever it wanted to these days.

The few months were nothing but a blur for him -- this morning was his first time sober in a very long time. And now that he was sober, it was putting a lot of things in perspective. The fact that he didn't have clue what his life was about now that Shera was gone was first and foremost in his mind. He'd been with Shera for the better part of a decade, and while there was no way they would've won any awards for being "most romantic couple", he had just gotten _used_ to her. And their weird little lifestyle had seemed to work for them.

But she'd gone and gotten fucking sick and died on him. And he didn't goddamn know what to do now. "Fuck me," he said out loud.

Yuffie looked at him, her brow furrowed. "You all right?" she asked him, concern in her voice. That was another difference, he realized. Yuffie seemed less self-absorbed. Hell, it almost seemed like she gave a shit about him.

He opened his mouth to say something, but closed it quickly. What exactly did he think he was going to say to her now? The brat already had enough blackmail material on him to last at least a year.

Cid Highwind did not break down, he didn't fucking cry, and he didn't get emotional. Except that he _had_, and she had witnessed it all. But she'd manage to get through it without laughing, and she hadn't brought it up since. Like she understood that it was just something he'd needed to do.

Hell, if it'd been Tifa, she'd have made him sit down and talk about it. He was suddenly thankful he'd landed here in Wutai.

But that thankfulness didn't last long. He could still hear the townspeople jabbering excitedly. "The fuck are they talking about, kid?" he asked her, annoyance in his voice.

Yuffie just shook her head. "Don't worry about it," she told him, waving her hand dismissively. But the look on her face told a different story. He could only assume that they were talking about him -- or _them_. Shit. Of all the places to crash his damn airship, it had to be right in the middle of a small, gossip-hungry town like this one.

"Damn it, they won't give you any peace if you stay at the inn," she muttered darkly. "Follow me," she said to him, leading him back towards her house.

He didn't protest, just followed her back to the House of a Thousand Goddamn Cats. Why the hell did she need so many of those fuckers, anyway? He made a mental note to ask her later. He paused outside the door and pulled out a cigarette. She wasn't going to let him smoke inside, he knew that.

Shera hadn't given a shit -- or if she _had_, she'd never said anything. Of course, he thought glumly, that was mostly his fault. She'd pretty much been buffaloed into being completely meek and as non-confrontational as they came.

The opposite of the girl standing in the doorframe now, watching him puff away. "Those things are gonna kill you, you know," she told him, wrinkling her nose in distaste.

"Not soon enough," he retorted, his tone bland.

Yuffie's features softened a little, and he could tell she wanted to say something, but she kept her mouth shut. Well, for a minute at least. "Do you really mean that?" she finally asked.

"Shit," he said. "The fuck do you care?"

"Oh, I don't," Yuffie said, as if his cold tone didn't affect her one whit. "I'd just rather you not kill yourself in my house, if you're planning on doing something stupid. I don't really want to you to ruin all my nice rugs."

"I think your fucking cats will take care of that," he quipped.

"Shut up, old man," she snapped. "I love my kitties." She stuck her lower lip out in a pout, and he had to almost shake himself to keep from staring.

Shit. Shit! When had she gone and gotten -- _sexy_? And what the fuck was wrong with him, that he was even thinking like that in the first place? _Sick old bastard_, he thought sullenly, looking away from her.

Luckily for him, she headed into the house, and he was able to finish his smoke in peace, without any unwanted distractions. He stayed outside and had another cigarette, to prolong the separation from her.

She finally came back out looking for him after about fifteen minutes. "Oh, I thought maybe the villagers had kidnapped you," she said lightly when she found him standing in the same spot, looking out across the village.

"You fucking wish," he said.

Yuffie shrugged. "You're not _that_ bad, gawd," she told him. "Anyway, I made some tea -- it'll help your headache. So whenever you want to come inside and have some …" Her eyes fell on the cigarette in his mouth. "How many of those are you planning on smoking right now?"

"As many as I goddamn want to!" he snapped. "Shit, woman, get off my back."

Yuffie paused then. "Did you just … call me _woman_?"

Cid inwardly groaned, expecting another lecture like the one he'd gotten this morning. Instead, Yuffie's face lit up with a smile. "What?" he asked, more nervous than ever.

She just shook her head. "Nothing!" she said in a sing-song voice. "It's just -- you didn't call me _kid_ or _brat_ for once, is all."

"My mistake," he muttered, a little embarrassed by his slip. Yuffie _was_ just a kid, right? And the brat. That's all. "So where's that goddamn tea?"

Yuffie rolled her eyes. "It's in the kitchen," she told him, holding the door open for him.

He shook his head, and took her by the wrist, pulling her away from the door. "You can keep me from smoking in the goddamn house, but some things are not gonna change." He held the door open and ushered her inside with a sweep of his hand.

Yuffie exhaled loudly. "What? You think the strain of holding the door open for you is too much for my weak little arms?" she said sarcastically, standing in front of him with her arms crossed in front of her chest, one eyebrow cocked at him.

"The hell is the _matter_ with you?" Cid said, exasperated. "I'm _trying_ to be nice here, goddamnit!"

Yuffie pushed past him, annoyance all over her face. He followed her into the house, and as soon as the door shut behind him she started shouting. "Then quit being such a _sexist_! Gawd, you are such an ass -- hey, I'm really sorry about what's happened in your life, really, I am, but that's no excuse! And if you want my help, and you _need it_, then you need to just cool it!" Her hands were balled into fists, and her grey eyes were snapping angrily. "The tea's in the kitchen," she told him, still shouting. He opened his mouth to say something, but she cut him off by poking her finger in his chest. "And _no_, I will not pour you a cup! Get it yourself, you lazy bastard!"

She stormed up the stairs toward the bedroom, and before too much longer, she was tossing the bed sheets down the stairs. They narrowly missed him, only because he took a step back just in time.

He honestly didn't know what the hell had just happened. He'd thrown plenty of tantrums, sure, but he'd never been on the receiving end of one. Suddenly, he felt deeply chagrined, and he sat down on the couch with a heavy sigh.

It was no fucking wonder Shera never said a word to him -- how could she get a word in edgewise, with him acting like _that_ all the time? After awhile, she probably just stopped trying, flat-out. "Fuck me," he cursed. "I'm sorry, Shera."

Yuffie came back downstairs then, her arms full of the rest of the bedding. She kicked the sheet she'd tossed down before in his direction. "Can you give me a hand with this? Or are you too much of a _man _to help me take the sheets _you _dirtied to the washer-lady?"

Cid was on his feet instantly, and he followed her out the back door of her small house. She led him across a field that cut through the back part of the town to an even smaller building. "Hitomi! Are you here?" Yuffie called out as they entered the building.

An older woman with graying hair and spectacles came out of the back room. "Oh, Yuffie-sama," she said, bowing deeply. "How may I help you today?" Her eyes flickered briefly to Cid, and he could see her cock her eyebrow suspiciously.

"Just some sheets this time, Hitomi," Yuffie said cheerfully.

Cid felt distinctly uncomfortable as the old woman's eyes looked back and forth from the sheets, to Yuffie, to him, and then back to the sheets again. She didn't say anything, but he could see the wheels turning in her head.

Yuffie continued to smile brightly. "Hitomi, this is Cid Highwind," she said, gesturing at him. "You know, he was one of the ones who helped me save the world a few years back." Cid just shook his head at Yuffie's insufferable bravado. Of course, _she _had saved the world, why not?

Hitomi's eyes widened as recognition dawned, and she looked embarrassed, even though she hadn't vocalized any of the thoughts Cid was sure she'd been having. "Oh, Cid-san," Hitomi said, bowing at him. "Welcome to Wutai! What brings you here?" She looked back over at Yuffie meaningfully.

Yuffie ignored the look. "It's a very sad story, Hitomi," she said, affecting another one of her famous pouts. Cid was really starting to wish she'd stop doing that. It was goddamn distracting, and it made him feel like a sleaze. "Cid here had a little airship trouble, and he had a little bit of a crash just outside of town. Isn't that _terrible_?"

Hitomi looked concerned. "It is! I hope everything is all right."

"Oh, it'll be fine. He's lucky he landed here, though, and not out at sea," Yuffie breezed.

"Oh, yes, praise Leviathan," Hitomi said, nodding vigorously. "Will he being staying in town long then?"

"Just till I can get a part for my ship, ma'am," Cid interjected, tired of Yuffie talking about him like he wasn't there.

"And he'll be staying at the inn," Yuffie said pointedly. "Will you make sure everyone knows that, Hitomi?"

Suddenly it dawned on Cid what Yuffie was doing. By bringing him here, carrying _sheets_ nonetheless, and acting so blasé about it, she was effectively dispelling any rumors before they could even start. In a place so set on tradition and propriety, it would be absolutely _unthinkable_ that the heir would just flaunt her conquests around so boldly.

So, the brat wasn't as dumb as she seemed. Who'd've fucking guessed?

After they said their farewells to Hitomi, and Yuffie made plans to pick up the sheets later that afternoon, they walked outside into the warm Wutanese sunshine. Yuffie sighed. "I wish it would rain," she said. "The townspeople think Leviathan is mad at us for some reason, because it hasn't rained in so long."

Cid didn't really know how to respond to that. This place was so _different_ than any other place he'd ever been. So much more traditional, more closely tied to the old gods. And Yuffie was different here, too. He realized that that was the difference -- here in Wutai, she was expected to be a certain way. It was only in the comfort of her own home that she allowed the _real_ Yuffie to come out.

"I'll show you to the inn, if that's all right," Yuffie said then, her previous talk of Leviathan and rain forgotten.

Cid thought about it for a minute. He'd been yelled at more in the last twenty-four hours than he ever had been in his entire life, but he'd also felt less lonely, less goddamn suicidal than he had in months -- hell, maybe even years. Shera had been a person -- the _only _person -- in his life, and while he had loved her, there had always been a distance there. A distance he'd never even bothered to try and breach, because he didn't think it was what _she _wanted. She never approached him, never did anything except for what _he_ wanted her to.

He hadn't been a good person to her, and he knew that. He understood why she kept him at arm's length. Didn't make this shit hurt any less, but now that he was actually sober and really thinking about it, it made a lot more sense.

Hell, his breakdown outside of town earlier that morning had been the first time he'd felt real, honest human contact in a very long time.

With the brat, of all the fucking people.

And he was slightly afraid that if she left him alone, he'd just find his way to the nearest bar and get himself blasted again. But he couldn't very fucking well tell _her_ that, now could he?

His silence must have spoken volumes, because Yuffie gave him a wan smile. "See, I have to visit Godo this afternoon," she explained quickly. "I need to tell him that you're here, and why, before he finds out from someone else." She rolled her eyes and waved her hand at the town. "They all have big mouths. Hitomi will help quell a lot of the rumors, though, so don't worry about it too much, okay? It won't be you who has to deal with any of the fallout any way." She shook her head then, and looked back at him. "If you want, you can get settled in the inn while I'm at the pagoda, and then we can have dinner."

He shrugged nonchalantly, as if it didn't matter one way or the other. "Whatever, kid. Might be nice to have a goddamn break from you yelling at me," he said, his tone surly.

"Oh, that," Yuffie said, making a face. "Well, I'm not going to apologize for it. You _are_ a sexist ass. And while you're here, with me, that just isn't going to fly."

Cid just glared, and got another cigarette. He noticed that his pack was almost empty. "Shit, I left my smokes in the fucking _Shera_," he cursed.

Yuffie just rolled her eyes. "I don't think it'd be bad if you went without for awhile," she told him. If looks could kill, she'd have been dead and buried from the withering glare Cid gave her then. "But if it's that important to you, we can go after I get back from Godo's."

"What if I need them _before_ you get back?" he snapped.

Yuffie pointed across the small stream that ran through the center of town to one of the largest buildings in the town. "That over there is Turtle's Paradise. They sell cigarettes there. But … it's a bar." She sighed heavily. "I'd really prefer it if you'd just stay at the inn," she added quietly. "I won't be long at Godo's, trust me. I can't spend too much time with him,_ gawd_."

Cid ran his hands over his eyes, suddenly feeling very tired. "Fine, I'll stay at the goddamn inn, you happy? When're you going to call and find out about the parts I need for the airship?"

Yuffie looked up in surprise, as if she'd forgotten all about it. "Oh! That's right -- I can do it right now, if you like?"

Cid thought about it, and he could feel his earlier headache start to come back. As soon as she called Tifa, the bullshit questions were going to start … and he just didn't want to _deal_ with that right now. Hell, they'd probably all hop on the next ship to Wutai, and then it would get _real_ fucking annoying. "Aw, fuck it," he finally said. "We can call 'em tomorrow. I ain't in the mood for their inquiries right now."

Yuffie nodded, her eyes understanding. "Gotcha. Well, this is the inn." She motioned to the building that they were in front of. "Don't worry about paying, I'll talk to the proprietor. I mean, you're almost as big a hero as me!" She grinned up at him, and he just shook his head. Well, _some _things hadn't changed.

"Wait here, I'll go get you a room," Yuffie said. She left him standing under the awning of the building, and he lit up another cigarette. He took a good long look at the town around him. Damn if it wasn't a pretty place. Quiet and tranquil -- perfect for forgetting about life for a while. It didn't really seem like a place that suited _Yuffie_ so well, though. Wutai was stiff and formal and unbending. From what he remembered of Yuffie, she was quite the opposite, and she didn't seem quite herself here.

Damn it, why did it even _matter_ to him whether life in Wutai suited the brat or not? Clearly, his head was more fucked up than he thought.

Luckily, Yuffie was back outside within five minutes, handing him a key, effectively giving him a reprieve from spending too much time alone with his thoughts.

She led him around the back of the building to the correct room. "All set! This is yours," she said cheerfully. "I won't be more than a few hours, I promise," she assured him. "And then we'll go get your damn cigarettes and whatever else you might need from the airship." She turned to head back to her own house, but she stopped before she had taken even a step. She put her hand on his shoulder and looked at him sternly. "Take a bath or a nap or something, old man." She tapped the side of his face, like you would if you were slapping someone, but she only just touched him softly. "You look like hell," she added with a smirk.

And with that parting shot, she took off running, and Cid Highwind was alone again.


	3. Here's Where It Gets Complicated

_**A/N:** So in this chapter, we get some nice family issues with Godo -- always a good time, right? And also, this is pretty much where the tension starts. This isn't going to be a terribly long fic -- ten chapters at the very most -- and it isn't going to have any kind of outside conflict. It's very character-oriented, and so, there won't be a whole lot of action (not the fighting kind anyway, har har). In the past, I've always tried to write such epic things, and I've never really sat down and tried to write something that was just about the PEOPLE, and not the stuff that was going on around them. So that's what this is, and I hope that if you read it, you enjoy it._

_Again, don't own anything, blah blah, it's all Square's.  
_

_**Chapter Three  
**_**Here's Where It Gets Complicated**

It took Yuffie a bit longer than she planned to make herself ready for tea with her father -- mainly because she procrastinated putting on the restricting yukata that Godo insisted she wear for their meetings -- and as a result, she was late meeting him. She entered the pagoda and slipped off her geta, and hurried down the hallway toward the tea room. The look on Godo's face when she entered the room let her know exactly _how_ displeased he was, though Yuffie was sure it wasn't only her lateness that had upset him.

_Just great, _she thought sullenly as she settled herself on the tatami mat across the table from her father. _Time for another one of Godo Kisaragi's famous three-hour lectures_.

"I have been hearing distressing news this day, Daughter," he said, his voice as calm as it would be if he were discussing the weather.

Yuffie just rolled her eyes and brushed a stray wisp of her hair off her forehead. "I'm sure," she said flippantly. "The drought continues."

Godo exhaled noisily. "I am not talking about the lack of rain, and you know it," he said coldly. "Have you no _shame_, Daughter? Letting strange men into your home late at night …"

"Oh, I see," Yuffie said, feeling her blood start to boil. "Because _immediately_ you assume the worst of me."

"I did not give you your own home so that you could turn it into a brothel."

Yuffie stood up then, unwilling to sit and be called a whore by her own father any longer. "Sit _down_," Godo snapped. "I am not finished with you."

"Oh, actually, I think you are," Yuffie said through gritted teeth. "Since you've already decided that I'm a whore."

"Well, what would you have me think?" Godo sighed heavily. "It's going to be hard enough marrying you off, willful as you are."

"That's fine with me. I don't want to be married off, actually," Yuffie retorted.

"Why must you try me so, Daughter?" Godo said sadly. "Do you not care what your people think of you?"

"I would hope that _my people_ know that I'm not an idiot!" Yuffie snarled. "Gawd, don't you think I have better sense than to just parade my conquests around town, _carrying my bed sheets, _might I add?" She sighed bitterly. "You don't need to worry. My honor -- and _yours_ -- is still completely intact. Nobody wants anything to do with Godo's daughter, anyway … you've managed to see to it that they're all scared."

"I do not care for your tone," Godo replied, his voice cold once again. "You _know_ how the townsfolk talk. I wish you would use more discretion."

Yuffie threw her arms up in defeat. "There is nothing to be discreet about!" she cried. She busied herself then, going through the ritual of preparing the tea for her father. A "woman's duty" and all that, but she _hated_ it. As far as she was concerned, men were perfectly capable of making their _own_ goddamn tea.

_Gawd, I'm starting to sound like Cid,_ she thought with a smile.

The smile was not lost on Godo, and he immediately pounced. "Who is the man, Yuffie?"

Yuffie was puzzled for a moment. There was a man? "Oh!" she said, realization dawning. "That man. It's just Cid. Cid Highwind, you remember, right? His airship crashed a little way outside of town, and it needs a new part." She shrugged. "So see, you're all worried for _nothing_. Cid's pretty much the last person who'd ever --"

"So he is staying in the village, then?" Godo interrupted her. His mouth was set in a firm line then. "Not in _your_ house." It was an order, not a suggestion.

"Relax, old man," Yuffie scoffed. "He's staying at the inn."

She could see that Godo was relieved, though he said nothing. She really wondered _what _his problem was, though. As if she'd ever even consider _Cid Highwind_ as a possible -- well, that was just _stupid. _She quickly grabbed her cup of tea and took a long drink, mindless of the liquid burning her mouth. She needed that -- it made her focus on something other than the ridiculous idea that she and Cid might actually …

"It would be best if you limited the time you spend with Mr. Highwind," Godo said then, and Yuffie looked up at him, trying not to choke on her tea. "It is quite unseemly for a young, unmarried woman -- especially one in your position -- to be seen cavorting so openly with a man who is not your relation."

Yuffie slammed her teacup down on the table at that. "I am not _cavorting_ with anyone, Godo!" she shouted. "He is my _friend_. We were at _war_ together. And needs my help right now -- he doesn't know anyone else here, and he's kinda stranded. Give me a little credit, please!"

"It's improper! And I'm not to hear of you spending any extraneous time with that man, do you understand?" Godo's face was red now.

Yuffie just closed her eyes, trying to keep her temper from exploding. "You're a little late to start parenting me _now_, Godo. I'm twenty-one! And my _gawd_, I am not about to do anything _unsavory_ with _freaking _Cid Highwind!"

"That isn't to say he wouldn't try to do anything unsavory with you, Daughter," Godo said calmly.

Yuffie's eyes flew open, and she looked at the man across from her in bewilderment. "Did you just -- are you -- did you just _accuse my friend _of being some kind of deviant?" she hissed. Slapping her hands down on the table, she stood up abruptly. "I'm done here."

She gave her father a half-hearted bow, even though she _wanted_ to throw the half-full teapot at his head, and then left the room. She slammed the screen shut on her way out for good measure. "Stupid old man," she muttered as she paused by the front door to slip her geta back on her feet.

She stormed out of her father's house, and noticed that the sun was just about to set. She'd been there much longer than she had anticipated. "Damn, now we're going to have to haul ass." She ignored the villagers who tried to speak to her as she made her way across town and to the inn.

She rapped loudly on Cid's door and waited for him to let her in. "Talk about disrespectful!" she said to herself, still fuming from the argument. "What an ass, I can't _believe_ that man is my father. Ugh." She snorted as she thought about his allegations.

_Me and Cid Highwind, that's a good one._ _Haha, yeah, because the old pilot is soooo completely who I fantasize about at night. Right, I bet motor oil makes a GREAT lube._ She flinched a little at the thought, and then giggled. "Ew." She sighed then, and knocked again on the door."Hello? What is _taking _you so long, gawd?" she called impatiently.

"It's open!" she heard Cid's voice call from inside, and she opened the door and let herself inside.

"Gawd, took you long enough, you old --" Yuffie's voice trailed off as her eyes adjusted to the room's dim light and finally settled on Cid, who was reaching across the bed for his shirt. Which he had discarded earlier. And wasn't wearing at the moment. Yuffie's mind seemed to get stuck there for an abnormally long amount of time.

He was shirtless and that was _not _the body of an old man that she was seeing right now. He was built. _Really, really _built. Apparently building and maintaining airships kept you in better shape than she had previously thought. Even the months of drinking hadn't taken too much of a toll on him. Her eyes darted furtively over his biceps, across his toned chest and torso, and that's when she noticed the trail of hair starting below his navel and …

"Oh, gawd, I'm sorry, geez, you shoulda told me you weren't dressed yet!" she stammered, turning back toward the door. She tripped a little bit as she turned -- _stupid geta_ -- and stumbled against the doorframe. Her face was blazing and her throat felt tight.

_Holy GAWD, _was all she could think. _All this time, he's been hiding THAT_? "I think I'm gonna be sick," she said under her breath. It was true, the room felt _insanely_ hot and way too small right now.

She heard him chuckle behind her. "The hell's your problem? I'm decent," he said, his tone amused.

"I'll say," Yuffie muttered. Then she turned around and tried to smile brightly. Thankfully, he had his shirt back on, so she didn't have to try and pretend she wasn't staring at him. And it was easier to talk to him when he was fully-clothed. Because fully- clothed, he was just … Cid. Old friend Cid! Not some ridiculously good-looking man that she'd never noticed before now.

"Took you long enough," he said then.

"Huh?" she asked, her head still reeling.

"How was tea?" he asked, slowly, as though he was talking to a mental patient.

"Oh, tea!" Yuffie said. "Uh, it was -- whatever, I don't want to talk about it."

Cid's eyes narrowed as he looked at her. "That good, eh? Take it your old man was pissed?"

"When is he not?" Yuffie said, blowing her bangs off her forehead. "It doesn't even matter, he'll get over it, and then move on to the _next_ thing to be disappointed in me about. No worries!" Cid looked like he wanted to say something, but Yuffie changed the subject before he could. "It's going to be dark soon. We should probably get going."

"You planning on hiking to the airship in … what the fuck are you wearing, exactly?" Cid's eyebrow was cocked as he looked at her.

Yuffie looked down, confused. "Oh, gawd," she moaned, looking at the dark green yukata. "I guess I was so mad I forgot about it in my hurry to get back here." She laughed a little. "All right, then, guess we have to make a stop."

"I dunno," Cid said, studying her carefully. She felt nervous under his scrutiny, but she tried to play it off. "I'm kinda curious as to how far you can actually go in that get-up."

Yuffie rolled her eyes at him. "I'll just bet you are," she said. "But you're going to have to be disappointed, because I'm not wearing this any longer than absolutely necessary." She started walking back toward her own house, certain that Cid would have no trouble keeping up, since she couldn't take very big steps in the geta.

"Why are you wearing those goddamn stupid shoes, anyway?" Cid asked after about five minutes of walking in silence.

Yuffie looked at him and shrugged. "Tradition," she said with a sigh. "It's all about tradition here."

"Thought that was what you wanted. Five years ago, when you stole all our shit?"

Yuffie reddened at the memory. "Yeah," she said sheepishly. "I did! I mean, I thought that I did. It's just that …"

"Reality don't always live up to the fantasy," Cid finished for her, lighting up a cigarette.

Yuffie smiled a little. "Exactly!" she said. "It's nice that you get that -- it's nice that _someone_ does, I mean."

"_Get_ it? Hell, I'm pretty much the living example of it."

There was a lot Yuffie wanted to say then, but she didn't dare. After all, she and Cid weren't _close_, they weren't _friends -- _not really, any way. And the questions that were building up inside of her weren't the kind of questions you asked mere acquaintances.

"Ugh, stop for just a second," she said when the reached the last bridge in town, the one that went over the stream that separated her home from the rest of the village. She leaned against the railing and reached down to pull off her shoes. "These were obviously invented by a man who _hates _women."

Cid took one of the shoes from her hands and inspected it. "Looks more like a goddamn torture device than footwear," he said, and then handed it back to her. "Still -- it makes for a pretty picture."

"What, the shoes?" Yuffie asked, confused.

"Nah -- the whole get-up." He waved his hand in the direction of her outfit, though he didn't look directly at _her_. "Looks pretty." Yuffie's heart sped up just a little. Compliments from men were not something she was used to receiving.

"Aww," she said teasingly, trying to break the tension before she got all schmoopy. "You think I look pretty? So you _do_ have good eyesight after all! I was beginning to wonder about you. I mean, _everyone's_ dying for a piece of this." She elbowed him lightly to let him know she was kidding.

He didn't respond, he just looked at her for a long moment before turning and heading the rest of the way across the bridge. She swore she heard him mutter "shit," as he walked away.

Yuffie blinked in surprise. Had she said something stupid --_ again_? She hurried to get the geta back on her feet and then hobbled as quickly as she could across the bridge. "Ow, you could've waited for me," she said as soon as she was caught up to him.

"It's taking you longer to walk across town in those fucking things than it's going to take us to get out to the ship," he said sourly.

"Sorry," Yuffie said, shrugging. "Not much I can do about it. The airship's not gonna go anywhere, though."

Cid sighed heavily. "Guess not." Yuffie took a few more tiny steps forward. "Oh, for fuck's sake, this is goddamn ridiculous," he said then. Without ceremony, he scooped her up off the ground and started walking toward her house.

"Cid!" she yelled. "Goddamnit, put me down, you beast!" Seemingly surprised by her outburst, he released her and stepped back. She straightened out her yukata and looked up at him, eyes blazing. "What the _hell_ was that?" she said. "Gawd, Cid, anyone around here could've seen you do that, and _then_ what do you think they're gonna say? I can walk just _fine_. If you're so damn impatient, head out to your airship _yourself_."

"Fine," Cid said, throwing up his hands in defeat. "That's just goddamn _perfect_. Can't seem to do anything right around here, anyway."

Yuffie stood there and watched him storm out of town. "Idiot," she muttered, though she didn't know if she was talking to Cid or to herself, really. She hadn't meant to yell at him like that -- well, at least, not that _much_. But being that _close_ to him had caused her to flip out just a little bit.

And now she supposed she was going to have to chase after him and bring him back into town, because there was no way she was going to let it end on that note.

He was the first man who'd ever called her pretty.


	4. Common Ground

_**A/N: **Shortest chapter yet -- but I think you'll forgive me. :) I'm pretty amazed at how fast these chapters are coming along -- usually I just stop being inspired, but it's kind of the opposite with this one. Thank you to everyone who's been reading and reviewing so far, it really does mean a lot to me. I know this pairing isn't everyone's cup of (goddamn) tea, so just knowing that SOMEONE is reading this makes me so so happy._

**Chapter Four**_**  
Common Ground**_

Cid's bad mood didn't dissipate the further outside of town he got -- in fact, it only seemed to get worse. What was that damn girl's _problem_, anyway? Seemed like the only thing she'd done since he'd gotten there was yell at him for one reason or another. Even when he was just trying to be nice. The shoes had looked uncomfortable, and it was taking her for goddamned _ever_ to walk in them. He wasn't a saint, he never claimed to be, but he'd never expected her to lash out at him the way she had.

He supposed that he just did not understand women. And that was a sad fact, he knew. He was almost forty years old, and he'd only had _one_ relationship to speak of in all that time. The dalliances of his younger days didn't really count, far as he was concerned.

He pulled the last cigarette out of his goggles as he walked. He frowned as he thought about the turns his life had taken. He and Shera -- that had been something else. He hadn't really been looking for someone at the time when he'd met her. And if he was being honest, he hadn't really spent too much time thinking about her at all before the _incident_. And afterwards -- well, she'd just kinda been there, and she'd ingratiated herself into his life, convinced that she needed to make amends to him.

And he'd made her life a living hell.

He took a long draw off his cigarette as he felt his gut tighten. Yeah, he'd been a bastard. And even when things were _good_ with Shera, they were never -- well, they were never _good_. He'd grown to rely on her, and later, even love her, as much as he'd ever loved anyone. But what did that really say about him? That the only love he was capable of was twisted and fucked up?

It just was what it was, and that was that. No one was ever going to write epic ballads about Cid and Shera, that was for damn sure. It didn't seem right though. He'd ruined that good woman's life, and she'd died, never knowing anything better.

That was the real tragedy here, he supposed.

And now he was stuck on this damn island, with no way off until he could get his hands on the damn part for his ship. Stuck with a girl he barely knew as his only company, and hell, he couldn't go more'n two minutes without pissing her off.

And damn if that girl couldn't yell. It was enough to almost bring a smile to his face, as he thought about the way her eyes flashed and her face flushed when she was angry. He'd never seen a woman get that worked up in his life. She was definitely the only person who'd ever called him on his bullshit, that was for sure. Everyone else had always been too cowed by him to dare disagree, even when he was blatantly wrong.

Hell, even Vincent and Cloud had always backed down when he went off on a tangent, and they definitely weren't the type to just back down easily.

"I need to get offa this fucking island," he muttered darkly then. "I'm thinking too goddamn much."

"You're also walking _really slowly_, gawd." He turned his head at the sound of her voice, but didn't see her anywhere until she was right in front of him. She knelt down and looked at his feet.

"The hell're you doing?" he asked irritably, looking down at the top of her head.

"Checking to see if you stole my geta!" she joked. "I mean, I could've crawled to the airship faster than you're walking right now."

"Shaddup," he snapped, and she stuck her tongue out at him.

"Geez, you could be a little nicer. I mean, I didn't have to come out here after you," she said, crossing her arms in front of her.

He noticed that she'd changed out of her yukata into her "Yuffie clothes" -- itty-bitty shorts and an itty-bitty top, along with the tall, lace-up boots she was so fond of. Her hair was down, and longer than he remembered it being. He had to admit … this look suited her better. Pretty as she'd looked all dressed up earlier -- and she had looked _damn _pretty -- it just hadn't been her. Not that he was an expert on _who _she was.

But she'd looked like a porcelain doll or something. Which only set his nerves on edge, because seeing her look all perfect like that just kinda made him want to muss her up -- and _that_ was not a train of thought he was looking to board.

She snapped her fingers in front of his face then. "Hello? Anyone home in there?" she said, and he realized he'd been staring. He walked past her to avoid having to say anything. "Hey," she said after a few minutes of silence. "Did you want to be alone out here?"

"Don't fucking matter," he said through gritted teeth.

"You mad about earlier?" she asked then. "Because I actually didn't mean to yell at you, and I _will_ apologize for that one. Feel special. I don't say sorry often."

She was in front of him, smiling that goddamn smile again, and all it did was make him want to punch something or start yelling at her. But what was he going to yell at her _for_? For growing up and becoming beautiful? For being the kind of person who was loyal enough to want to help him -- a drunk ass that she had only the most tenuous bond of acquaintanceship with from years ago?

Shit. He needed to get offa this island, because he was gonna go goddamn crazy if he spent too much time with this girl. "I think you should probably call Tifa tomorrow," he said then, and it came out gruffer than he'd meant it to.

Yuffie's face fell a little then, but he pretended not to notice her disappointment. He didn't want to have to contemplate what the hell _that_ meant, not now. "Oh. Okay," she said, her voice wistful. "I'll call her first thing in the morning, then."

They continued their walk to the airship in uncomfortable silence, and arrived about a half hour later. "Cid …" Yuffie began.

"Hm?" he asked, heading to the hatch to get inside and get some of his personal effects that he always kept in there.

Yuffie stood at the bottom of the stairs leading up to the hatch as she spoke to him. "Uh … well, um, it's just that … do -- do you know what part you need, specifically? So I can tell Tifa, I mean."

That wasn't what she'd wanted to ask, and he goddamn knew it, but he wasn't going to push the issue. She'd been acting a little off since _before_ he'd gone and tried carrying her, but he couldn't figure it out, and he didn't really want to try right now. He hurried and grabbed his duffel bag and the extra carton of cigarettes from the airship, and then locked it back up before he answered her question.

He sighed heavily. "I'm gonna need a whole new motherboard for the monitors and shit," he said. "Once I get _that_ up and running, I can figure out if there's anything else needs fixing."

Yuffie's smile reappeared then. "So, you mean, even if you get the right part, your ship still might not work?"

"Yeah, I guess that's what I mean," he said.

"Oh, well … I hope that it's only the -- motherboard? -- that's broken then," she said, but he could tell she didn't mean it. She seemed positively _gleeful_ at his misery.

"You'd think you had no goddamn friends, eager for the company of an old man like me as you are," Cid said, half-jokingly.

Yuffie's expression darkened then. "You're not _that_ old," she scoffed lightly. "And I do too have friends! It's just -- in this place, and me being who I am … well … Ugh, it's complicated. I don't think you'd understand. No one else seems to." The last sentence was spoken so softly, Cid was pretty sure she hadn't meant for him to hear it.

So that was it. She was _lonely_. Well, no fucking wonder she'd latched on to him so tight. "This place kinda chokes the life outta you, doesn't it?" he asked before he could remind himself that he _didn't fucking care_.

Yuffie sat down on a big, flat rock not far from the airship. "They used to tell me stories about Wutai -- what it was like before the war, you know? And it sounded so great. But now? I don't know … maybe stories should just stay stories." She started pulling up tufts of grass with her hands and tossing them aside idly. "I'm not cut out for this princess crap. Every little girl wants to be a princess, right?" She laughed mirthlessly. "It isn't all it's cracked up to be, that's for sure. I mean, you saw me earlier, right? Ridiculous, yes? Those stupid geta and the stupid fancy robes -- ugh, I hate them all. And my father -- well, he's the worst part of it all." She turned her head, and Cid was sure that she was brushing away tears as discretely as she could.

"You ain't the only one who didn't think things would turn out so bad," he said, sitting down next to her and opening up a new pack of cigarettes. He pulled one out and put the rest of the pack in his goggles.

She looked up at him. "Yeah?"

"Life has a way of fucking you over at every turn."

Yuffie giggled at that. "Nicely put," she said. After a beat, she continued, "I am sorry about Shera, you know."

Cid exhaled a long breath of smoke and looked up at the night sky -- an old habit, one he didn't think he'd ever be able to kick. "You wanna know the fucking truth of it?" he said, not sure why he felt so open all of a sudden. But out here, in the middle of nowhere, with Yuffie -- well, he felt safe. And that was the strangest part of it all.

"Tell me," Yuffie said, drawing her knees up to her chest and resting her head on them, her head turned sideways so she could look at him.

"I think she's better off now than she ever was with me."

Yuffie's head came up off her knees then and she regarded him solemnly, her big dark eyes full of concern. "Cid," she said quietly.

"Fuck me," he said. "First time I've said that out loud." He took another long pull off his cigarette. "I loved that woman. I just wasn't any good for her."

"If it helps -- I doubt she blamed you for anything," Yuffie said. "She wanted to make you happy. That much was obvious, just from the one time I met her. You were her life, you know?"

"She oughta demand a refund," Cid joked half-heartedly.

"I doubt she sees it that way." Yuffie shrugged. "I might not understand her _at all_, but I do understand self-sacrifice. A little bit, I mean." She waved her hand dismissively at the land around her.

Cid just looked at her for a long time. "When'd you get so goddamn smart, brat?"

Yuffie shrugged. "Guess I just grew up. I mean, it was bound to happen sometime, right?"

"Don't be in such a fucking hurry. Being grown-up ain't a picnic, you know."

"You don't say," Yuffie said sarcastically. "And here I thought it was going to be endless days of booze and sex and swimming pools full of materia. I'm so disappointed right now. Maybe I just oughta go jump into the ocean right now, yeah?" She nudged him a little and winked. "Unless you can save me from a mediocre future."

"Well, I don't have any materia, but I got booze in the _Shera_, and I'm sure we could work something out …" Cid said, raising his eyebrows at her in a lurid manner.

Yuffie gasped in shock, and then snickered and shoved him back so hard that he fell off the rock they were sitting on. She stood above him, foot on his chest, and looked down at him. "Cid Highwind, are you trying to proposition me?"

"Shit, woman, you started it," he said, unable to keep himself from laughing a little. He grabbed her ankle and pulled her down to the ground with him.

"I was _joking_, gawd," Yuffie hissed, but her voice hitched when she said it, and her hand reached out and touched the side of his face gently. She wrinkled her nose slightly at the feel of his whiskers on her fingertips, but she continued to stroke his face -- his forehead, his eyes, his nose, and finally his lips. Her fingertips were feather light as she explored him cautiously. "Totally joking," she reiterated quietly as her fingers danced lightly over his lips, sending shivers down his spine.

"Were you?" he asked in a low voice, his own hand going around the back of her neck and pulling her face closer to his.

"Y-yes?" she stammered, but she leaned in and pressed her lips to his timidly. He didn't move for fear of scaring her off, he just closed his eyes and enjoyed the sensation of having this contact. She was so gentle, so careful, her touch was like butterfly's wings. Then she pulled back a little, and he cracked one of his eyes open. "You taste like smoke," she told him, but it wasn't accusatory, just a casual observation.

"Is that a problem?" he asked hoarsely, half-afraid she was going to jump up and run far far away from him at any moment.

She shook her head. "No. It's kind of what I expected," she said quietly, and she leaned in toward him again. This time, though, he met her halfway, his fingers tangling in the hair at the back of her neck. He felt her relax against him, and she sighed softly against his lips. His tongue darted out across her lips gently, and she froze for just a second before she slid her own tongue out to meet his.

The sensation sent a shockwave of desire straight to his groin, and he pulled her closer, his hands bunched in the fabric of her shirt at her back. She placed her hands on his shoulders and then slid them down his arms and around to his back. He groaned and nipped her bottom lip, and she gasped at the sensation. His tongue slid over hers as he slanted his mouth to deepen the kiss. He started to lean her back down into the grass, and she pulled away and sat up ramrod straight.

"Oh, gawd," she breathed out. She looked up at him, wide-eyed. "Oh, _gawd_."

"You said that already," he told her, his gut clenching uncomfortably. Shit, had he _really _gone to fucking far this time? "Shit, honey, you all right?"

She looked at him, her eyes full of wonderment, and nodded. "Oh, yes," she breathed. "I just -- gawd, this is a weird day. Holy crap." She reached out to him again and pulled him close for another kiss, though this one was far more chaste than the last one had been. "I just -- okay, I'm going to -- go home now. Uh, alone," she said pointedly, but she smiled when she said it. "Talk … tomorrow. We'll … yeah. Tomorrow."

She stood up, and he couldn't help but notice with a small twinge of male satisfaction that she was a little bit unsteady on her feet. "You sure you want to go back alone?" he asked her, standing up alongside her.

"No," she said honestly. "And that's why I'm going to." He didn't get a chance to say anything else to her, because she took off running at a dead sprint back to the village, and all he could do was watch her go.


	5. Distance

_**A/N: **Not much to say about this chapter -- enjoy! Thanks again to everyone who is reading this -- it means a lot to me, really. :)_

**Chapter Five  
**_**Distance**_

Yuffie's feet were pounding on the ground, each step more urgent than the last, keeping perfect time with the frantic thrum of her heart. She didn't look back at him, she _couldn't_. If she did, she knew she'd end up running back to him. So she just kept her eyes straight ahead, and _ran_.

_Oh my gawd, oh my gawd, OH MY GAWD! _It was the only thought she had -- the only thought she'd _allow_ herself to have -- on the way back to the village. Once she was in the relative safety of her own home, she shut and latched the door, and then leaned back against it heavily. Her breath was coming out in short, uneven gasps, and her heart felt like it might actually burst out of her chest.

Running away had been childish -- she knew that. Mature adults didn't run away from their troubles, they faced them head-on like, well, like _mature adults_. But that -- oh, that hadn't _been_ trouble, and that was the problem! _That _had been shooting stars, flying rockets, fireworks, _and_ all the materia in the world all rolled into one thing.

With shaking fingers, she reached up and touched her lips softly. "I just kissed Cid Highwind." She said it out loud, hoping that _hearing _it would help her realize the absurdity of the whole thing. It didn't work.

She felt flushed and hot and too big for her skin at the thought of his big, callused hands on her skin, surprisingly gentle, all things considered. _That was more than a kiss, _her mind thought traitorously. _His tongue was halfway down your throat, for gawd's sake! _Her lips were still tingling, and she could still taste the smoke and peppermint flavor of his mouth on them when she flicked her tongue across them.

"Oh, gawd," she moaned, dropping her face into her hands.

Cid Highwind. Of all the people out there, she never in a _million years_ would have pegged him for her perfect first kiss. And yet, here she was, her body on fire, on the verge of exploding, because of _him_.

"How did this even _happen_?" she asked the cat nearest her foot, who just looked up at her and mewed plaintively. "This morning I was yelling at him about tea, remember?" The cat darted away from her then, and Yuffie rolled her eyes. "Great, I'm scaring the cats now."

It had been one of those had-to-be-longer-than-twenty-four-hours kinda days -- the kind that didn't come around often, but that you always remembered, no matter what happened later in your life.

She would definitely remember today. So much had happened, and so fast. Her head needed a chance to catch up with the rest of her. She knelt down to remove her shoes, and then she went about the nightly ritual of making sure the cats were all properly fed and tended to. Then she went into the kitchen and started scrubbing down her counters. Busy work. Busy work was a good idea right now. Busy work kept her from running across town and banging on the door to Cid's room at the inn.

Something had happened tonight -- and it wasn't just the kissing thing. It was something so much _more _than that. For the first time in her entire life, she had the distinct feeling that someone actually _got_ her. It was something she never thought would happen -- she was too quirky, too obnoxious, too _whatever_ for anyone to ever try to understand her.

But he _did_. He talked to her like -- well, like an adult. He didn't try to hide things from her, didn't worry about offending her so-called "delicate" sensibilities. He just said whatever he thought, consequences be damned. And he also let _her_ say whatever she wanted. Nobody else did that. Everyone else in her life was always telling her how to behave, and what she could and couldn't talk about. He didn't tell her she was a disgrace, he didn't act like she was a _personal_ affront to the gods just by existing. She yelled at him -- in fact, she'd done almost nothing else since he'd been here -- and he took it in stride.

It was _liberating_, she realized, to have someone to talk to, really talk to. And she supposed that's why she'd taken it as far as she had. She groaned. "That's just great," she said to herself as she rinsed out her sponge and tossed it into the sink. "I'm just going to jump any guy who talks nice to me from now on?" She frowned. Right now, she really couldn't imagine kissing anyone but Cid. It might just be because she didn't have anything to compare it to, but as far as she was concerned, kissing him had been _wonderful_. It made her wonder just how good all the stuff that came _after _kissing would be with him.

She sank down into one of the chairs at her table as a wave of longing and sadness washed over her then. That … couldn't happen. There's no way she could possibly -- they weren't married. Gawd, they weren't even in _love_, and isn't that how these things were supposed to go? How many times had those things been beaten into her head growing up? Good girls just _didn't_ …

And oh, what about Godo? If he somehow found out about what had happened tonight -- well, Cid wouldn't need that part for his airship, because he wouldn't be getting out of Wutai alive. And if _anyone_ found out about it -- well, she'd never be able to get married here. There'd be a permanent black mark on her family's honor, and she'd probably be shunned.

And then what would she do? Unhappy as she was here, with the rules and the traditions -- she didn't have anywhere else to _go_. What was she going to do, go to Midgar and crash on Cloud and Tifa's couch? Follow Cid back to Rocket Town? Yeah, because _that_ was likely.

She felt the tears sting the back of her eyes then, and felt disgusted with herself. "Ugh, stupid," she muttered, swiping the tears away angrily. "Gotta pull it together, Yuffie. Get your head on straight."

Tomorrow, she would call Tifa, and get the part that Cid needed for his airship. Cloud could be here with it by the end of the week, and that would be that. She'd just keep her distance from Cid, like her father had suggested in the first place, until then. She didn't _have_ to spend time with him, she wasn't his personal activities director or something. This whole damn mess could be put behind her, and she'd be able to pretend it never happened.

And that would be that. In the end, it'd be better for everyone. At least, that's what she kept telling herself as she readied herself for bed and crawled in between the sheets. She tried her hardest not to remember that the last person who had slept here had been Cid.

**XxXxX**

She didn't sleep well at _all_ that night, she was far too keyed-up and restless. She finally gave up trying around seven-thirty the next morning. She went in and took a long, hot-as-she-could-stand-it shower, and then threw on the old silk robe that used to belong to her mother. She went back into her room and grabbed her phone from the nightstand beside her bed. The sooner she called Tifa, the better. She dialed the number and listened to the phone ring, once, twice, three times, before she heard the answering click.

"Hello? Yuffie? What a surprise!" Tifa's cheerful voice said.

"H-hey, Tifa," Yuffie said. She caught sight of the clock then, eeesh, it was _early_. "Sorry for calling so early, I hope I didn't wake you guys up."

"You can call any time, you know that!" Tifa said. "What's wrong, you sound strange."

Yuffie made a face. Damn Tifa and her stupid intuitiveness. "Uh, it's nothing," she said, trying to keep her tone light. "Well, not _nothing_."

"What happened?" Tifa pried gently.

"Cid kinda needs a new part for his airship, and we -- I mean _he_ -- was hoping maybe Cloud could take care of that?"

There was a long pause on Tifa's end of the line. "Are you in Rocket Town?" she finally asked.

"No, I'm not in Rocket Town. He's here. In Wutai."

"Okay. I'm going to need some details here at some point, you know." Tifa was scolding her, but she managed to do it such a way that it didn't _feel _like a scolding.

"It's not really my place to _say_," Yuffie said, chewing her bottom lip nervously. "I don't know if he'd want me to. He's here, though, and his airship is -- well, it's broken. He needs a new motherboard. He said Cloud would know the type he needs."

"Well … Cloud's not ... I mean we are not in Midgar right now, Yuffie. We're with Barret and the kids to Costa del Sol, and we weren't planning to be back till the beginning of the month." She paused. "But, if it's a real emergency …" The tone in Tifa's voice told Yuffie that she didn't really want to leave.

Of _course_. The one time Cloud actually decided to take a freaking vacation was the one time she really needed his help. "Oh, that sucks," Yuffie said before she could stop herself. "I mean! Good for you guys! You need the vacation."

"Yuffie. Are you okay?"

"I'm _fine_, Tifa, really, just great. Um, just, when you get back, can you see about getting that part for Cid?"

"Of course, Yuffie," Tifa said. "But really, if he's stuck there, or if there's a problem …"

"No, it's fine, don't worry about it," Yuffie said quickly. "We'll figure out some way to keep him busy while he's here. I'm sorry for bothering you on your vacation." She hung up then, before Tifa could say anything else. She tossed her phone onto her bed in frustration. "Just great," she muttered. She glanced at the date flashing on her phone's screen. April 20th. So they weren't going to be back in Midgar for another week and a half. And the time to get that part there would be …

Cid was going to be in Wutai for the better part of a month. Yuffie threw herself back against her mattress. "Leviathan hates me," she muttered darkly. She considered crawling back in bed and staying there for the duration of Cid's extended visit. It was a much more pleasant option than having to spend any time with him. Okay, that was a lie. It wasn't more pleasant. It was just _easier_.

There was a loud knock on her door right in the middle of Yuffie's ruminations, and she felt her stomach drop all the way to her toes. She walked down the stairs with trepidation, and looked out the side window, fully prepared to just not answer the door. She breathed a sigh of relief when she saw Hitomi standing on her front step, her arms full of neatly folded sheets.

Yuffie quickly opened the door. "Oh, Hitomi! I'm so sorry, I forgot I was supposed to pick these up yesterday. You didn't have to bring them by."

"It's no trouble, Yuffie-sama," Hitomi said as Yuffie took the sheets from her arms. "I hope I didn't … wake you."

"No, of course not! Would you like some tea?" Yuffie said, standing aside to let the older lady come inside.

"Oh, no, I must get back to the shop. I just wanted to bring these by before it got too busy."

Yuffie pursed her lips as she noticed that Hitomi was slyly trying to get a peek inside her house. "Hitomi-san, I am ashamed of you!" she said. "I told you yesterday -- he's just a friend. And no, he's not here. And no, he won't be here ever again." She sat the sheets down on her couch and stood facing the old washerwoman with her hands on her hips.

At least Hitomi had the decency to look abashed. "I'm sorry, Yuffie-sama," she said, bowing deeply. "I was only worried about you."

Yuffie sighed and her features softened. "It's okay, Hitomi," she said. "But you don't need to worry about me, really."

"Somebody needs to," Hitomi said carefully.

"What's that supposed to mean?" Yuffie asked.

"He has the look of a starving man," Hitomi said cryptically.

"I'm pretty sure he eats just fine," Yuffie said, brow furrowed.

"Not starving for _food_, Yuffie-sama."

Realization dawned on Yuffie then, and she drew her mouth into a firm line. "Okay, well, thank you for your concern, but really, I'm fine. And Cid Highwind's -- _appetite_ -- isn't really anybody's concern except for his, now is it?" She closed the door then, without waiting for Hitomi to say anything further.

"Gawd, what is _with_ everyone? I'm not an idiot! I'm not a baby! I can take care of _myself_! I've been doing it my whole damn life, funny that it's only now that anyone wants to try and help me out."

There was a light rapping on the door, and Yuffie flung it open angrily. "Hitomi, I appreciate your --" Her voice trailed off when she found herself looking not at the face of the stooped little old washerwoman, but instead the light blue shirt of the person she was _directly _trying to avoid. She could clearly see the well-defined pecs underneath said shirt, and so she quickly turned around and stomped back towards the stairs before she did something stupid. "Son of a bitch," she cursed.

"Hell of a greeting," he called after her. "Can I come in?"

"NO!" Yuffie yelled from halfway up the stairs. "You just stay out there and … smoke or something till I get ready."

Well, this was just great. Hitomi probably _saw_ him heading up to her house as she was leaving. That would really do wonders is allaying the old lady's worries, wouldn't it? And what the hell was he even _doing_ here at this hour? Gawd, this was a mess.

She dressed quickly, throwing on a pair of khaki shorts that were slightly longer than the ones she normally wore, and a ratty, baggy old black short-sleeved shirt that actually covered her entire midsection and did a fair job at hiding her figure. As decidedly _un_sexy an outfit as she owned, and that was the goal here. She tied her hair back from her face with a leather cord and then stomped back down the stairs.

The front door was closed, she noticed with some relief as she quickly laced up her boots. She flung open the door then and found Cid standing off to the side of her house, puffing away on a cigarette. "Let's go," she snapped, marching in the direction of the crashed airship.

"Hold up just a goddamn minute," Cid said, hurrying after her. "You mad?"

Yuffie didn't say anything at all till they were outside of the village, and then she whirled to face him. "You can't just come knock on my door like that! Damn it, Cid, if my father gets wind of this -- of _any _of it -- we're both so far beyond dead. Just -- you just gotta keep your goddamn distance, okay?"

Cid looked puzzled for all of a second before his eyes widened with understanding. "Hey, hold up," he said, and his voice was softer. "If this is about last night …"

"Oh, gawd, Cid, just _don't_, okay? Last night was … " She shook her head irritably. "It can't happen again."

"If that's what you want," Cid said, coming to stand in front of her.

Yuffie tried to avert her eyes from his, but found that she couldn't. Before yesterday, she hadn't given Cid Highwind a second thought. And now she was staring into his his eyes -- blue, so blue, like the deepest part of the ocean -- and she couldn't make herself look away. He hadn't aged much at all since the war, maybe a few more lines around his eyes, but it didn't detract from his attractiveness at all. Had she been so self-absorbed and immature back then that she hadn't noticed just how _handsome_ he really was?

"Yuffie?" Cid asked, and the sound of him saying her real name brought reality crashing back down on top of her.

"It doesn't matter what I _want_, Cid," she said. "It's just not happening, and that's that. Can you accept that?"

"Of course," Cid said. "I'm not some kind of goddamn monster." He lit up a cigarette, and regarded her solemnly. "Tell the truth. Did I scare you last night?"

Yuffie turned her head and looked out across the water. "No," she answered honestly after a long pause, not looking back at him. "Last night was … well, you were there, right? I mean, you were right there with me, weren't you?"

"Oh, yeah," Cid said, his voice in that lower register again, the one that sent shivers down Yuffie's spine. "Right with you."

"And that's why it's over now, okay? I can't … _do _things like that. I have to think about my future -- Wutai's future."

"Goddamn, ki -- Yuffie." He looked at her. "Guess I can't really call ya kid any more."

Yuffie smiled wanly. "Thanks, though," she said, almost to herself. "I almost didn't get to know what it was like."

He didn't ask what she meant, and she was grateful for him for it. He put his arm around her shoulders and pulled her close to his side. "This okay?"

Yuffie smiled and rested her head against his chest, taking a deep breath and inhaling the soap/smoke/engine oil/man smell that was his alone. Funny, none of those scents would have topped her list of favorite aromas before -- but all mingled together on him, it worked. "Yeah," she said, trying to ignore the sharp pang she felt in her chest. "This is okay."

"Guess we better call Tifa and find out about that part, then," Cid said after a several minutes of silence.

Yuffie stepped away and looked at him, making a semi-apologetic face. "Yeah, I called her this morning. They aren't … in Midgar now. And won't be back until the beginning of May."

"What the fuck?" Cid asked.

"They're on vacation, if you can believe it. Tifa offered to leave early, but I couldn't …"

"Shit. Looks like I'm stuck, then," Cid said. Yuffie noticed that he didn't sound too terribly upset by the idea, and her heart fluttered a little. Did he _want_ to stay here with her?

"I meant it, you know. It's best if we just … don't spend too much time together," Yuffie said.

"You afraid I'm gonna bite ya?" Cid asked with a wink, and Yuffie couldn't help but laugh.

"Yes, actually," she said seriously. "And I'm afraid I wouldn't even try to stop you if you did."

"Is that a fact?" Cid said, raising his eyebrow at her.

"Cid," Yuffie said warningly. "I'm just trying to be mature about this, and you are acting like … like I don't know what!" She glanced around furtively, thankful that they were far enough outside of the village that no one could see them -- even this was risky, shaky ground. "I mean, what the hell, Cid! Before yesterday, you weren't even a blip on my radar! And now …"

"I know," Cid admitted. "I know exactly what you mean. Shit, I don't know any more'n you do right now. I just know that last night was the best goddamn night I've had in as long as I can remember -- until you ran away from me, that is." He smirked at her and she smacked him lightly on the arm.

"So … what do we do, huh? It's going to be … weird. And way too hard to try and just avoid you the whole time you're here," Yuffie said. "I like you -- and I don't just mean in a stupid schmoopy way. I like you, as a person. I liked talking to you last night. That was the nicest, best talk I've had with anyone, ever." She smiled shyly. "But I happen to also _like _you, like, you know, a man." She blushed when she said the words. "I'm such a stupid baby."

"What do you want, then?" he asked her seriously. "I ain't gonna do a thing you don't want me to."

"That's the _problem_," Yuffie said through gritted teeth. "There's not a thing I _don't_ want you to do. But we can't … "

He grabbed hold of her wrist then, and spun her around to face him. "Tell me to stop," he said in a voice barely more than a whisper. "You say stop, and I'll walk away and spend the rest of my time here in my cabin on the _Shera_. Won't bother you again. Just say stop."

Yuffie swallowed hard and closed her eyes. "No," she said, throwing her arms around his neck and pulling his face down to hers. She opened her eyes then and looked into his. "Don't stop," she whispered a scant second before he crushed his mouth down on hers.


End file.
